History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 147

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224

USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 147
USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 147

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Dunellen is situated in the extreme northwesterly part of Piscataway township, and is divided by the Central Railroad of New Jersey from the village of New Market. The place is of but a few years' growth. The streets are wide, and laid out in regular lines. It contains a number of tasty dwellings belonging to business men of the city and others, who have selected this location for retirement. The surrounding scenery, particularly of the mountains in the vicinity of Wash- ington Rock, is quite picturesque. It has about two hundred dwellings and a number of stores.

New Brooklyn and Samptown are small ham- lets ; contain grocery and general merchandise store, Reune and William Manning, who is also the post- master ; school-house, Baptist Church, grist-mill, Mr. H. Acken, who carries on the milling, and the old saw-mill of Drake Dunn and John Smalley, built before the Revolutionary war; Mr. William Ryno, who is the owner since 1857, and carries on the busi- ness. His father was the first tavern-keeper in 1822, but gave it up, and since then there has been no inn kept in the village. There are about thirty or forty houses. The Easton and Amboy Railroad passes through the place, and it has taken the name of South Plainfield, by which it is now known.

600

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

Burial-Grounds .- At an early day plots of ground were set apart in one corner of a farm called the family burial-ground, and in this township there were many such, but in later years the stones have been re- moved and the ground leveled with the rest of the field.

Among the oldest of these plots is the Runyon burying-ground. There are a large number here buried without headstones, and their interment prob- ably dates back to the burial of the first settlers. We copy a few of the dates on the headstones :

Benjamin Runyon, died 1783, in his 58th year; Peter Runyon died 1821, in his 77th year; Susannah Runyon, wife of l'eter Runyon, died 1824, aged 77 years ; David Stelle, son of David and Rachielle Stelle, died 1819, aged 3 years, also their daughter, Susannah Stelle, died 1811, aged 9 years; Ann Runyon died 1805, aged 75 years; Sarah, wife of Runyon Hamil, died Dec. 11, 1804, aged 18 years ; Maria Stelle died 1825, aged 14 years ; Samuel Blackford died April 16, 1851, aged 89 years.

A family burial-ground of Dunn and Tingley lies back on the lands of the late Dr. C. W. Coriell, New Market. But a few stones now remain, many of them having been removed to the general burying-ground in the township, and the same may be said of the old family burial-ground of the Coriells, the stones having been removed, the farin now belonging to Frederick Wessels. It is situated at Newton, now called Ran- dolphville, abont the centre point of this township.

A private burial-ground of the Boices is situated in New Market, on lands of Dr. A. S. Titsworth. The stones bear many ancient dates of the first settlers who came to this township, and a large number who are buried without anything that can be recognized as their graves, but we are told that the plot is filled up. We copy a few. The initials T. B., for Thomas Boice, may be one of the oldest. P. C., 1758, repre- senting the grave of Peter Coriell. J. L., 1756, Jo- seph or John Lenox, and the oldest date is roughly marked E. L., 1749.

The following are more in detail :

" Osee Daught of David and Sarah Coriell died Sept. ye . 24, 1794, aged 4 mo. and 21 days. David, son of above, died May ye 20, 1805. aged 3 010. and 10 days." "In Memory of Lydia, wife of Daniel Runyon, daughter of James Lenox, died Oct. ye 17, 1784, io her 31st year." " Beny and Anne died died

April 23, 1777, July 7, 1781, aged 2 mo. 13 d. 1 mo. and 29 d."

"George L. Boice, who died Jan. 11, 1817. 65 years. Sarah, his wife, 73 years, Died March 21, 1830."

Rachel Shotwell died Sept. 3, 1827, in her 68th year. There are other plots of the Giles family on the Peter Smith place ; on the W. H. Oliver farm of the Field families ; and at New Brooklyn, on land of John I. Holly, many of the family of Laing are buried.

WATERVILLE CEMETERY, sometimes called the Samptown burial-ground, is one of the oldest pub- lic cemeteries. It is kept in a neat condition, with good taste, trees planted and walks straightened. We will name only a few of the families who bury here, viz .: Pyatt, Piatt, Drake, Coulter, Stewart, Os- man, Tingley, Adiar, Frasee, Low, Runyon, Watts, Manning, Mollerson, Blackford, Soper, Pound, Still- born, Whitehead, Laing, Bloodgood, Ross, Fitz Ran- dolph, Lee, Barclay, Dears, Honeyman, Harris, Far- rant, Way, Gaskell, Stephens, Morris, Beekman, Vannest, Magan, Bush, Clark, Blue, Shotwell, Con- ever, Lever, Clanson, Dunn, Wright, Miller, Clark- son, Holton, Vandevort, Lupardus, Pearsall, McCor- mick, Scelle, Sullard, Coriell, Brokaw, Gibson, Ayres, Hoff, and Snyder.

Here is an epitaph of

" Rev. Lebbeus Lathrop, who was born Oct. 23, 1761, in Canterbury, Cono., died Nov. 5, 1843, aged 82 years."

The following are epitaphs of those who served in the last war :

" In Memory of Augustus Rynn, Died from Wounds recd while in the service of his country, Dec. 13, 1863, aged 38 years."

" Jo memory of Lieut. George C. Boice, son of Peter and Mary A. Boice, who was killed in front of Petersburgh, Va., while oo duty on the Picket Line, Oct. 8, 1864, Aged 26 years, 3 mo , 16 days."

" Erected to the memory of Aaron P .. son of John & Bershela Fitz Randolph, Died March 8, 1863, aged 22 years, 6 mo., 25 days.

My friends whom here I leave, From whom I must now part, Oh, look to Gud to comfort you, And heal your broken heart."

Many of the stones in this yard bear date 1762, 1773, and 1792, and a number have become so ob- literated that they cannot be deciphered.

The cemetery situated on the road from New Mar- ket to New Brunswick, about two miles from the former place, was, by the liberality of Joel Dunn, Esq., in 1835, given to the trustees of the Seventh- Day Baptist Church as their place of interment, their church having been built in the village instead of the location formerly occupied by the Second Church, where they had a small plot for burial purposes. The grounds are neatly inclosed, and very soon more room will be needed.

The private plots of the Gilles, Lainge, and a few others are now of the past, they not now being used as places of interment, and in some cases very much neglected by their descendants, which is much to be regretted, as they are the links in the chain of fam- ilies, and is where the historian must go for his gene- alogies of these families.

601

PISCATAWAY.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ISAAC D. TITSWORTHI.

Isaac D. Titsworth was born in Piscataway town- ship, Middlesex Co., N. J., June 13, 1805. He was the fifth child and second son of Lewis and Keziah (Dunham) Titsworth. His ancestors came from | England, from a township named Tittesworth, in Staffordshire, which was the ancient seat of the fam- ily. From a printed work containing a history of this township we trace the name of Tittesworth back to the year 1030, in the time of Canute, the Dane, and Edward the Confessor. The same work informs us of certain descendants of the original Tittesworth

I. D. Filowith

who greatly distinguished themselves. One named Ralph joined Lord Stanley at Bosworth Field with a large body of men, and himself slew Richard the Third on the 24th day of August, 1485.

Another descendant, Sir Benjamin, was called "the Silver Trumpet of the Long Parliament." Horace It was considered a matter of unusual interest that during fifty years of married life but three deaths had infant grandchildren) heing descendants of the aged couple. Walpole speaks of him as " a wit and poet in great vogue in those days," and Southey, in his " Book of occurred in their family, and but two of these (both the Church," calls him "one of the most eloquent men in that best age of English eloquence." Another was the engineer and builder of the second Eddystone Lighthouse. HENRY V. DUNHAM.

When the name first came to this country is uncer- tain ; it was, however, previous to 1711, as the name occurs at that date as that of the owner of a planta-

tion in Northern New Jersey. The subject of this sketch was reared in poverty. He did not long enjoy even the common-school advantages of those days for obtaining an education. Circumstances compelling him at an early age to earn a living, he began while yet a lad to carry on horseback through Middlesex, Monmouth, and Essex Counties the newspapers then published in New Brunswick, and continued to do so for a number of years.

Nearing manhood he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a tanner and currier, and for a number of years successfully carried on that business in Plainfield, and afterwards in New Market. On Aug. 25, 1831, he married Hannah Ann Sheppard, of Shilolı, Cumber- land Co., N. J., thus forming a connection through his wife with the Sheppards and Ayers, two of the most reputable families of Cumberland County in those days. Moving to Shiloh in 1838, he was for fourteen years successively merchant and tanner, being also the first postmaster of that place, and continuing postmaster there till after his removal to Plainfield in 1852. In this year he sold a part of his farm to Thomas B. Stilliman, and with him laid out many of the streets in Plainfield. In 1853 he exchanged the remainder of his farm for a farm and tan-yard at New Market, where he has since contin- ued to reside.

During the Rebellion he was active in sustaining the State and general government. Of his seven sons the oldest four, aged sixteen, eighteen, twenty, and twenty-two, enlisted in the ranks as volunteers ; also two sons-in-law, both army and navy being equally represented among the six. All were pro- moted to honorable positions, all were honorably discharged, and all to-day occupy honorable positions in the communities where they reside. In politics Isaac D. Titsworth was first a Whig and afterwards a Republican, and has held a number of offices of honor and trust. In society he is respected for his public spirit and honest, consistent life. He has for many years been a deacon in the Seventh Day Baptist Church, and has since early manhood been known as an active laborer in the cause of temperance.

On Aug. 25, 1881, he celebrated with his aged com- panion his golden wedding, all of the three daughters and seven sons being present with their companions (one son-in-law excepted), and all living grandchil- dren, twenty-one in number, being also present (save one).

The grandfather of the subject of this biographical sketch was Squire David Dunham, who resided in the township of Piscataway, where he followed agricul-

602

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

tural employments and wielded a considerable influ- ence in public affairs. He married and had children,- Edmund, George W., Benjamin, Caroline, and Sarah. The death of Mr. Dunham, after a life of industry, occurred at his home. His son George W. was born Dec. 19, 1788, at the homestead, where the years of his boyhood, as also his later years, were spent. He subsequently removed to Plainfield, which became

H. il Dunham

his residence. By his marriage to Miss Phebe, dangh- ter of William Vail, who was a Quaker in his re- Jigious faith and born in 1792, he became the father of children,-David V., Eveline (Mrs. N. Randolph), Elizabeth (Mrs. B. D. Randolph), James V., Jane H. (deceased), Daniel V., Henry V., Clarkson C., George HI., and Charles E. Mr. Dunham's death oc- eurred June 22, 1876, in his eighty-eighth year, and that of his wife Oet. 5, 1881, aged nearly ninety years.

Their son Henry V. was born Dee. 27, 1828, at the family residenee, where his youth until the age of six- teen was devoted to study, varied by occasional labor on the farm. He then closely applied himself to a trade, that of a tailor, which was soon mastered and followed for a period of two years.

This proved, however, a narrow field of operation, and Mr. Dunham soon after embarked in the mann- facture of cloth, in which he is still engaged at the village of New Market.

Ile was, Nov. 10, 1855, united in marriage to Miss Susan M., daughter of John Smalley, of the same

township. Their children are Alida V. (Mrs. Isaac E. Giles), and William C., who is married to Etta Burdick, and resides at Alfred Centre, Alleghany Co., N. Y.

Mr. Dunham is a stanch Republican in politics, and a elose observer of the political changes of the time, but cares little for the distinctions of official life. He is a Baptist in his religious faith, and a trustee of the New Market Baptist Church. He is enterprising and sagacious in matters of business, and has enjoyed a success commensurate with these busi- ness qualifications.

ASA F. RANDOLPH.

The grandfather of the subject of this biography was Edward F. Randolph, who had among his children a son, Edward F., who resided in New Jersey during the war of the Revolution, and died in Somerset County. He was united in marriage to Miss Mary, daughter of Hugh Webster, of Plainfield, and became the parent of eight children, two of whom died in in- fancy. The others were named, respectively, Phebe, Mercy, Sarah, Mary, Ira, and Asa F. The death of Mr. Randolph occurred Jan. 3, 1831. Ifis son Asa F. was born Oct. 10, 1795, in Somerset County, where his youthful years were spent with his parents. He was married on the 4th of May, 1816, to Miss Rachel, one of ten children of William Vail, of Piscataway.

To Mr. and Mrs. Randolph were born seven chil- dren in the following order : Peter F., deceased, in 1817; William F., in 1821; Mary F. (Mrs. Daniel Randolph), in 1823; Lewis F., in 1828; Edward F., in 1830; Isabella F. (Mrs. Charles Buckelew), in 1836 ; Harriet F. (Mrs. Smalley), in 1838.

About the year 1820, Mr. Randolph removed to Piscataway, where he has since been one of the repre- sentative farmers of the township. He was also for a brief period engaged in the business of milling.

The Republican party in politics has elaimed his allegiance, and various township offices have been filled by him, though these lionors he never specially desired. Both himself and wife are members of the Piscataway Baptist Church, and have at all times manifested much interest in its prosperity. Mr. and Mrs. Randolph are still enjoying health and abund- ance in the sixty-fifth year of their married life.

CHAPTER LXXXV.

CITY OF PERTH AMBOY.

THE problem of establishing a seat of government for East Jersey was one which the proprietors early sought to solve. Although Carteret on his arrival in the province in August, 1665, fixed the seat of his government at Elizabethtown, where it remained for over twenty years, yet he early had his attention

Aia H Randolph

603

CITY OF PERTH AMBOY.

drawn to " Emboyle" ( Ompoye, as it was called by the natives), known to the English as " Ambo," then as " Amboy," and finally as the city of Perth Amboy. In a letter to James Bollen, dated Elizabethtown, July 9, 1680, he mentions having made Amboy the subject of a special communication to Lady Carteret, and it is not improbable that the establishment of the chief town of the province at this point was then in contemplation, but was delayed on account of the transfer of the province to other proprietors. The new proprietors seem to have been made fully aware of the advantages of the situation and of the intentions of their predecessors respecting it, for upon receiving their title the twelve associates set forth the following " proposals" for building and settling the town :

" For as much as Ambo Point is a sweet, wholesome, and delightful placa proper for trade by reason of its commodious situation, upon a safe harbor, being likewise accommodated with a navigalda river and fresh water, and hath, by many persons of the greatest experience and best judgement, been approved for the goodness of the air, soil, and eit- uation,

" We, the proprietors, purpose by the help of Almighty God, with all convient speed, to build a convient town for merchandise, trade, and fishery on Ambo Point : and because persons that hath a desire te plant there may not ba disappointed for want of proposala, we, tha proprietors, offer the following :

" First. We intend to divide fifteen hundred acres of land upon Ambo Point into une hundred sud fifty lota, which lots shall consist of teo acres the lot ; one hundred of the lots we are willing to sell here, and bfty we reserva for such as ale in Acierica and have long desired to settle there.

"Secondly. The price of each lot will be fifteen pounds sterling to auch who purchase before the 25th of December, 1682, and te anch whe purchase atterwards, before tha 25th of December, 1683, twenty pounds sterling.

" Thirdly. Every lot is to be as equally divided as the goodness of the place doth require and the situation can admit.

" Fourthly. The most convient spot of ground for a town shall be divided into one hundred and filty equal shares, and set out into streets according to rulesof art ; and no person shall be preferred before another in choice, whether purchaser or proprietor.

"Fifthly. We reserve four acres for a market-place, town-house, etc., and three acres for public wharfage.

"Sixtlily. Each purchaser is obliged to build a dwelling-house in the place designed for the town, and to clear three acres of upland in three years or else the proprietors to be reinstated in such lots wherein default ja made, repaying the purchase-money.

" Seveutly. We, the proprietors, do within a year hope by God's assist- ance to build for such of us one house upon Ambo-Point, which we intend shall stand in an orderly manner according to the best and most convient model.

" And, in pursuance of the desigo of tha propositions abovesaid,-

"Eighthly. And for the encouragement of carpenters, joinera, brick and tile-makers, bricklayers, masons, sawyers, and laborera of all aorta who are willing to go and employ themselves and servants in helping to clear ground and build houses upon the general account of' and for the proprietors.

" The said proprietors will engage to find them work and current pay for the same in money or clothes, and provisiona, of which there is plenty (as beef, pork, corn, etc.) according to the market-price at New York dur- ing the space of one year at least next after the 25th of December, 1682, ia which time (through God's blessing and their industry) they may have got wherewith to buy cowa, horses, hogs, and other goods, to stock that land, which they in the mean time may take np, according to the cop- cessiona; neither shall such persons pay rent for their said land so long as they are employed in tha proprietors' work ; and their wages shall at all times be so much as other such artificers and laborers in the said provioca usually have; por shall they be obliged to work for the propri- ators lunger than they find encouragement ao to do.

" Ninthly. And for the more ready and certain employing those work- men and laborers that shall transport themselves to East Jersey, this is to let all laborers and persons that shall transport themselves know they

mnat upon their arrival upon that placa, repair to the register of the above said province, and enter themselves according to their respectiva qualities and designe, and thereupoo they shall be entered into. the ser- vica and pay of tha proprietors."

The proprietaries contributed twelve hundred pounds in furtherance of the project, to erect each a house, and Thomas Rudyard, their first deputy- governor, appears to have been instructed to carry out this and other plans respecting their new town. "Upon our view and survey of Amboy Point" he wrote under date of 30th of May, 1683, "we find it extraordinary well situate for a great town or CITY beyond expectation. . .. The point is good lively land, ten, some places twenty feet above the water." Says Mr. Charles D. Deshler,-

" Perth Amboy, originally called 'Ombo' and 'Ompoye' (signifying an elbow) by the aborginea, and in old recorda varionsly styled ' Amboyle' and ' Emboyle,' waa settled and became a town later than Woodbridge and Piscataway. It was still uninhabited in 1682, as appears from au act 'directing the Times and places for holding tha County Courts,' passed in 1686. This act recites that ' whereas an act was made the first day of March, 1682,' providing that the Courts should be held in the County of Middlesex, at Woodbridge and Piscataway; and ' the Town of Amboy Perth not being then inhabited, the Courts could not be there settled; but, for the better encouragement of the said Town, the act of 1686 goes on to order that henceforth the Courta should * be held at the town of Amboy Perth' in September and December of every year, alter- nating with Woodbridge and Piscataway. At the date of the ' Instruc- tions' by the Proprietors to Governor Laurie, September 7, 1683, ' Perth Town' was yet 'to be built.' The Instructions say : As to the Lotts at Ambo Point and the town uf Perth there to be built, we desire that due care may be taken that it may be made regularly according to a scheme which is intended herewith to be sent .? In this same year 'one George Lockhart' offered to build a ' Prisen and Towne house' in the place, and Governor Laurie was authorized to close with the offer. But it is cer- I tain that neither were built by Lockhart. On some part of the lands allotted to the town there was at this tima'a house belonging to the Proprietors, with the Orchards and Grounds belonging thereto,' and the Instructions ordered Thomas Rudyard, the first. Deputy-Governor, tu ' giva the Governor possession thereof'-tha governor alluded to being Gawen Laurie, who arrived in February, 1684.2

" Besides this house, Rudyard wrote to the Proprietors May 30, 1863, that they had begun building 'some small honses fitting for work- men,' and August JI, the same year, Sanmel Grooma, Surveyor-General, wrote that three houses had been erected. The Instructions above Cited also made allusion to what is now South Amboy, directing that the Six thousand acres balonging to the Proprietors upon the South Side of the Raritan, over against Ambo Point, be cast in threa equal divisiona, Two Thousand in each for every eight Proprietors, who, it is added, are now (1683) sending over in Company both stock and servants.' Un- til 1686 the General Assembly of East Jersey had been held either at Elizabethtown, Woodbridge, or Piscataway,3 but on the 9th of April, in that year, it met for the first time at the ' Town of Aoiboy Perth.' And at some time during the session an act was passed appointing 'a public Market on the fourth day of every week at the Town of Amboy Perth, as likewise two Faire in the year. The same act empowered the inhabi- tants of the said town to choose themselves a clerk of the Market and Keeper of tha Toll-Book.' Still later in the session the Court of Cum- mon Rights was ordered to be held there twice in each year. The place was variously called New Perth, Perth Town, and Amboy Perth, in the several acts of assembly till 1692, when it was first styled Perth Amboy in an act passed that year ' for raising Money for their Majesty's Ser- vice.' Its first municipal charter was obtained front Governor Robert Hunter, Angust 24, 1718."4

The first houses built in Amboy were "18 by 30 feet, with a double chimney made of timber and clay,

1 Leaming and Spicer, p. 175.

2 Ibid., p. 177.

3 The general seat of government was at Elizabethtown until removed to Perth Amlwy in 1686.

4 Deshler's Historical Papers.

604

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

as the manner of this country is to build." Groom " surveyed the harbor and sounded the channel from Amboy to Sandy Hook, and found it a ' broad and bold channel.'" The house for the Governor was " 66 foot long and 18 foot broad."

The quantity of land laid out for this town, Gov- ernor's house, and public highways was estimated at about two hundred acres. One hundred and fifty or two hundred acres of salt marsh, three miles up the Raritan River, were at first retained in common to furnish grass for the settlers on the Point. In a letter Governor Laurie reiterates his favorable impressions regarding the new city. He says, " Where the Toun of Perth is now in building, a ship of three hundred Tuns may easily ride close to the shoar, within a plank's length to the houses of the Toun. The bank of the River is twenty foot, in some places thirty." John Barclay and Arthur Forbes were appointed to make inquiries, and they remark that ships "came close to the houses and also a ship of Three hundred tun in there this winter, in the hardest frost we had and lay hard by the toun, so near that she was tyed to a tree."

It is to be regretted that there are not fuller records in existence to throw light upon the incidents and counsels of this earliest era of the city's history, but the following, touching some of the prominent early residents and officials, will be of interest :

Thomas Rudyard and Gawen Laurie were the first two deputy-governors, and held land in Amboy. Samuel Groom, one of the twenty-four proprietaries, is styled in the records "Mariner of Stepney." He was appointed surveyor-general and receiver-general in 1682, and accompanied Deputy Governor Rudyard to the province the same year. He was a man of great activity and energy of character, but " Rudyard dispossessed Groom of his position on account of op- position made by him to his wishes respecting lands upon the Raritan River." He refers to the matter in this way : " Wee are very sensible of Samuel Groom's Honesty and Fidelity to our Interests, and therefore Cannot but very well approve of his Proceedings, both in his care in seeking out and Discovering the best Land, and surveying it out for our use, for his Endeavors to Clear it of the Indian Incumbrance, and for his refusing to comply with the particular Interest of any there, by accommodating them with Lands or others, at their desire, to our General Prejudice, and this wee are willing it to be signafied to him in our Name and wee wish there may a way be found where- by he may still continue to be Concerned with us."

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 147

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts Number of Pages: 1224

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224